


Things Build

by DreamWings231



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Minor Angst, Post-Canon, crackish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-11 12:34:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17447096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamWings231/pseuds/DreamWings231
Summary: Finally out of the government’s hand, the Hephaestus Crew bunkers down in an offsite lab to recover their bearings, or at least their sanity. That’s more of an unlikely possibility for Jacobi. Somewhere between entering Earth’s atmosphere and ending Goddard Futuristic, he can’t help but act a little different around Doug.Plus, things that don’t break other things, famous quotes of human history, and the age old question of what’s new pussycat.





	Things Build

**Author's Note:**

> This is entirely inspired by a tumblr post of 'wouldn't it be funny if Jacobi taught Eiffel about memes?'

“You like him, don’t you,” Hera said. She could’ve said it smugly or even jealously but her soft almost sad tone is what surprises Jacobi.

His first instinct is to refute, likely to not crack his voice like how he _very calmly_ denied his phobia to ducks.

Instead he looks over to where Doug and Miranda are tinkering, keeping their hands busy. From the looks of it, neither of them regained any of their muscle memory. Miranda takes close looks at each component of the radio she dismantled. Right next to her, Doug is carefully messing with the circuitry. He’s even wearing goggles at Jacobi’s suggestion.

Jacobi does not think he’s cute, not at all.

He did not blow up the Hephaestus, escape with the crew to Earth, get examined by the government, take Goddard Futuristic down, get released by the government two days ago, and hide out in an offsite lab of the (technically) late Dr. Miranda Pryce only to think that Doug looks cute with goggles.

No they’re here to gather their bearings after spending months under the extreme watch of their dear government. The entire time there was uncomfortable and annoying at best as he, Hera, Minkowski, and Lovelace dished out the dirt on Cutter.

It took a very, very long while for the government to release them and be ‘free’.

Yeah no, they were all still very paranoid that Goddard is still out for them.

Hera managed to hack into the system and found the private lab they’re currently bunking in. Right now, Lovelace and Minkowski are securing the labs’ perimeter, making sure they really are all alone in this middle of nowhere in Maine.

Jacobi’s making sure all of Hera’s equipment is actually supporting her and making a smooth transition into the system of the lab. Thankfully all the locks were bio-activated, meaning Miranda didn’t have to struggle to remember any evil passwords left by her scary evil genius past.

Lastly the two amnesiacs are fiddling with old radios and other machineries, constantly looking over old blueprints or schematics to build something for Hera. Jacobi didn’t exactly trust anything from Dr. Pryce, this lab is creepy enough, but Doug guessed it could help Hera get more mobile.

The only reason why Jacobi’s not participating is because there’s a sudden rush of thoughts, reminding him.

Don’t make things that break other things. Don’t make things that break other things. Don’t _be_ the thing that breaks other things.

It’s not that he doesn’t trust himself to accidentally build a bomb to destress. Well, he did it once and stopped halfway through. Maxwell was mad because he was supposed to fix the microwave, not do bombs.

And well, Jacobi’s kind of surprised of how well Doug is handling all the equipment. Actually no, he’s shocked to how Doug hasn’t snapped with the whole no memories deal, starts his life in a spaceship, and getting swarmed by the government. He’s just trusting Minkowski and Hera and Lovelace about who Eiffel was. He’s even trusting Jacobi.

“Well,” Jacobi admits, “he’s not a bad guy.”

He checks out the processing power of the main control computer, seeing if there are any hitches to Hera’s transfer. Hopefully they’re both quiet enough to be ignored by the amnesiac duo.

“That’s all you got to say?” She asks with pure sarcasm and no glitch to put her down.

“I said one compliment, sort of, for a guy that doesn’t remember the shit I help put him through.”

Hera says nothing, a giant relief for Jacobi to avoid talking about his feelings. He had enough from the government trying to psyche evaluate them.

Right when he thought the conversation was over he heard Hera’s low audible, “This could be a new start for the both of you.”

Jacobi doesn’t get the chance to even think of reply when sudden the sharp, uncomfortable noise of static is produced from the radio Miranda rebuilt. She and Doug instantly tried their best to align the antennas and snip the knobs until the static turned into music.

To his horror, Tom Jones’ _What’s New Pussycat_ started playing.

“Turn it off right now!” He demanded, no doubt looking crazier than usual.

Doug easily followed the directive. Something that kind of irked Jacobi because Eiffel would at least waited until the chorus ended just to frustrate him.

“Alright, yeah it was a strange song but alright,” Doug said, making sure there was no judgement in his voice.

“Thank you,” Jacobi took a deep breath in relief. Honestly this is possible the fastest problem that got resolved in his entire life. “I did not want to live through the Salt and Pepper Diner.”

Miranda returned to fiddling with the mobile AI gear but she couldn’t help but ask, “I’m sorry what?”

Yeah makes sense, Pryce would never _ever_ listen to a comedian. Automatically Jacobi looked to Eiffel to share a look but… Oh yeah.

In fact Doug had to cross his arms and raise a brow at Jacobi as if to tell him ‘yeah, you forgot that _we_ forgot practically everything’.

“Uh, well it’s from this comedian and how there’s this jukebox in his local dinner.” Thus Jacobi explained the crisis of playing _What’s New Pussycat_ seven times in a row. In between he had to explain what’s a jukebox is, “It’s a bigger radio for music only but takes your money,” but most importantly, for them to understand the utter chaos of the story, Jacobi _had_ to sing a full chorus.

He had to, they needed to understand. He had to sing that awful song with that Mulaney voice to get the point across. Miranda kept giggling and Doug, oh boy he’s smiling like Jacobi’s truly lost it.

“But back to when they’re dialing in the pussycats, the friend goes ‘hey, hey wait, lets drop in one _It’s Not Unusual_ ’ and so the music fades out, it’s dead quiet and then,” Jacobi belts out his best, _“It’s not unusual to be in love with anyone!”_

Full on theatrics where pulled out of his ass as he embraced his inner music loving Minkowski, singing the song and dancing a small jig. He couldn’t even see Miranda at this point as she collapsed behind the table, crying with laughter from the sounds of it. So his full attention was on Doug, hugging himself and also having a hard time dividing his efforts to either laughing or breathing.

“And then the song ended and very slowly, I don’t know about you but the song returns very subtle.” Jacobi inhales and, _“BAW WHATS NEW PUSSYCAT!”_

This time Doug has to lay his forehead down, luckily the machinery bits were pushed to the side, and he’s hollering with a beautiful laugh.

Jacobi has to laugh himself, energized by the story and seeing Doug blissfully happy.

“Now what I wished would happen was for one of the schizophrenics to stand up and say ‘now you know’. Oh god I really wish that happened!”

Doug’s and Miranda’s laughter or at least their struggle to breath stays the same, probably because he didn’t quite explain what schizophrenia was. Instead there’s a very loud snort coming from the door and only now does Jacobi realize that Lovelace is barely containing her snorts while Minkowski is smirking at him.

“Um, how long-“

“Since _it’s not unusual,”_ Minkowski sings. “Hera, please tell me you got that all recorded.”

“It goes without saying, Commander.”

Lovelace, the cruel lady she is, springs out her arms and shouts, barely passable as singing, _“BAW HAAA WHATS NEW PUSSYCAT!”_

Jacobi and Minkowski share a moment as they both roll their eyes at her but the moment Doug repeats the line with her, Jacobi cracks and joins.

Now there are three adults in an abandon lab shouting the age old question of what’s new pussycat.

As the only responsible one left, Minkowski helps Miranda to a chair. She’s still overwhelmed with tears and giggles. Their horrible, horrible harmonizing ends with tragically short due to them running out of air.

In the back of his mind, Jacobi’s already making excuses as to why he’s singing that god forsaken song. He’s exhausted, hungry, paranoid, and seeing Doug happy is a reason all on its own. Not that he would admit that to the class.

Everyone settles down, Doug and Miranda try to explain their little doohickey to the best of their understanding, but Hera’s the one to recite Dr. Pryce’s notes about a portable smart AI device that might be able to handle all of her brain with storage left to spare. Lovelace reports that all the security measures are state of the art and under Hera’s control while Minkowski reports that all that’s packed in the kitchen are non-perishable food.

Ultimately it was decided that no, we are back on Earth, let’s get that bread. Or at least pizzas but Lovelace is insisting on burritos.

And now Jacobi’s trying to explain pizzas to Doug while Lovelace is getting Miranda on her side to get a majority rules vote.

Minkowski, the one with the car keys, already left the building to buy burgers. Honestly it was kind of logical because they’re on the East Coast, Jacobi doubts there’ll be a decent Mexican joint in the small town that’s ten miles away. 

In the meantime, Miranda’s tinkering and Hera and Lovelace are locating unofficial Goddard outposts that haven’t been taken down.

As for him, Jacobi’s digging around the kitchen cabinets to find coffee grinds. He’s pretty sure the smell of fresh coffee is what lured Doug in. Jacobi doesn’t have to explain the mechanics of coffee. Doug more or less copies him with finding a mug and getting his fill.

Doug immediately splutters his first sip, nearly spilling his mug.

Quickly thinking, Jacobi takes out creamer, sugar, and a spoon for Doug. “Yeah, just add either of these till it tastes good.”

There’s a learning curve for Doug and Miranda. They remember the basics of living like the whole five senses, how to breathe, and all that jazz but it’s their old personalities they don’t recall. Taste buds or favorite colors or their preference to sleep on which side of the bed. That stuff is gone along with whatever university level curriculum they once had.

After Doug mixed in a fair amount of creamer, he asks, “So, do you have any other stories or whatever?”

It doesn’t take long for Jacobi to explain, “Yeet is more for throwing distance and power and Cobi is for accuracy, like for a specific target. The important part is to shout before you take your shot, either to grab everyone’s attention or as a warning. Usually someone gets hit before a yeet.”

Now so they’re tossing balled up paper into a trashcan up until Hera suggested that there’s rubber bouncy ball in Lovelace’s duffel bag.

They look at each other and grin.

The hallway, great for a horror movie chase, is now filled with the cries of “Yeet!” and a rubber ball narrowly missing Jacobi’s head. A couple of shots look cool by how they ricochet and overall, they end up hitting each other.

Everything goes to shit when Lovelace walks in, mid yell, “What the fu-” and the ball slams into her forehead.

Jacobi, because he’s an asshole, points at Doug, “He did it.”

“What! No! He did it!” Doug complains, pointing as well.

Lovelace nabs the ball before it rolls away and throws it, “YEET!” Because this is Captain Lovelace, the ball nails Jacobi in the gut, bounces off the wall, and then hits Doug’s throat. “And that’s how it’s done kiddos!"

“This is so sad,” Jacobi wheezes out.

The brilliant student that Doug is completes him with equal wheezing, “Hera, play despacito.”

It must be pity because Hera actually plays the beginning notes of the song. It brings a little bit of light into Jacobi’s soul but not enough to take the physical pain away. And then Doug laughs breathily and Jacobi doesn’t know how to stop these light, soft feeling ebbing away at his chest.

After years and years of being an emotional mess and repressing his feelings, Jacobi knows when something is too good for him to the point where it feels suffocating.

Right from the start, Doug and Miranda were the most vulnerable to the government and their probing into their lack of memories. They were confused and frustrated but they trusted Minkowski and the rest of them. There were a few close calls where the government didn’t believe they lost their memories and well he and Lovelace had to deck a few people to get them off their backs.

That was the first time he saw Doug scared.

He saw Eiffel scared countless of times but Doug’s fears are different because not remembering is out of his control. He’s not helpless but he can’t answer as Eiffel, the man that made a connection to aliens and saved everyone from Cutter’s evil plans.

He’s just Doug who calls out Eiffel’s shitty flaws, who listens to Minkowski’s fears about reuniting with her husband, who doesn’t have a big reaction when Lovelace tells him the truth about being an alien the moment they’re away from prying eyes, who gives Miranda knowing looks whenever they’re both frustrated about their memories, who doesn’t ask if Hera’s there because he knows that Hera’s is there and he never forgets it.

This Doug looks at Daniel Jacobi like he’s a good man.

Jacobi doesn’t know how to tell him the truth. Does he even want to at this point?

They spend the rest of their free time watching collections of Vines. This has to be an efficient crash course of learning memes. They’re sitting against the wall on a bed in the rec room, hip to hip with Jacobi holding the tablet between them.

“Daniel,” Doug says and by now, hearing his first name doesn’t make his skin crawl, “Why are you doing all of this?”

“Eh, I think I’m slowly going mad,” Jacobi decides because his first plan was to get Alana (and Kepler) a proper funeral. It’s still a plan in progress but he thought he’ll do it after running away from the Hephaestus Crew. Yet the moment they got released and Hera got the lab’s location, he stuck with them.

“No kidding,” Doug agreed. “First I thought you're some badass who seen some weird stuff, and when we were in custody you were either pissed or mopey, now you’re just whatever you can to make me laugh.”

He can’t really make any arguments, nor does he know what he’s defending himself from. “I can say a million things that can make you depress.”

“But you don’t,” Doug said. “You can be cynical and angry and bitter like your coffee but you try not to be all of that around me. Well actually, you do have your dick moments but I digress.”

“Look, I’m a charming dick with a charming dick.”

“See!” Doug points at him, laughing and his face a little red, “You’re basically treating me like everything is almost normal. Like, you flirt with me when Renee isn’t looking.”

“I don’t,” Jacobi’s voice cracks so he has to repeat, calmly and ignoring Doug’s stupid grin, “I do not flirt.”

Doug starts counting with his fingers, “You gave me your jacket.”

“Only because you were shivering and you only find that romantic because of the movies you’ve binged.”

“When I woke up from a nightmare, you were right there for me.”

“Minkowski would’ve done the same thing.”

“Yeah but she wouldn’t actually explain to me why I’m dreaming about the cold or getting eating by the color blue.”

He’s right, Minkowski wouldn’t tell him, at least not this soon. Jacobi on the other hand was upfront about the dangers Eiffel went through.

“You’re,” Doug looked at him with softness that awes him, “you’re good to me. I don’t feel like a byproduct of his sacrifice.”

“Hey,” Jacobi begins gently, still feeling undeserving of the description of soft, “we don’t see you as Eiffel’s copy. Trust me, we’re just figuring this fucking mess.”

“I know, I know but am I right about the flirting or have I been watching too many of Renee’s movies?” Doug squirms a bit, now uncomfortable and back peddling on his assumptions.

This might be a risk but Jacobi says, “If you’re okay with it, yeah I might be flirting.”

There’s a giant sigh of relief from Doug as he bumps his head back against the wall. “Good cause, I don’t know much about Eiffel but I know for sure that I do like you.”

Eiffel, he didn’t like Jacobi, tolerated him at worse and maybe Jacobi was misreading any looks he got from Eiffel but it doesn’t matter now. He’s gone and now there’s just Doug sitting close to him, saying that he _likes_ him.

“A poor decision, really,” Jacobi says out of habit but that doesn’t dissuade Doug.

At first Doug looks sincerely worried but then he remembered, “You’re quoting that princess movie.”

“What? No,” Jacobi denies halfheartedly.

“Damn you, Daniel,” he said with no real intention of damnation.

“You’re saying it wrong. It’s _damn Daniel!_ ”

They start watching more Vines and later he’s able to show him some of the genius literature of one man’s twitter feed when Minkowski returns with slightly cold burgers and, ugh, diet soda.

“Face god and walk backwards into hell,” Doug recites and nods his head. “That really is big dick energy.”

Minkowski compels herself to not spit her soda. Instead, she says in warning, “Jacobi, what have you done now?”

“I’m just teaching Doug the famous quotes of our human history.”

“Learning Hamlet is fine. It was the other thing he said that I’m complaining about!”

“Actually Commander,” Hera injects as matter of fact, “It was a Dril tweet posted in the twenty first century. A line from Hamlet would be ‘words, words, words’ or ‘time is out of joint’.”

With her mouth full, Miranda asks, “What’s a Hamlet?”

“Noting too important or impressive,” Lovelace said.

Just to spite him, Minkowski ordered him to do one last perimeter around the entire labs before retiring to bed. Hera would notify her if he slacks off. In fact after dinner, Miranda and Doug finished up their little project of nifty little wrist watches that can connect with Hera’s communications system and is apparently better than a phone. Not that they were going to be using an Iphone or Android any time soon.

It’s just him and Hera patrolling the laboratory grounds in the dead of night. The cold is bugging him as he tucks the scarf Doug found for him around his neck.

“You didn’t say it back,” Hera said.

“What?”

“He said he likes you but you didn’t say it back.” Oh boy she’s annoyed and she has the power to lock him outside.

“I am a mess,” he said as if that could justify anything. “But I’m not pushing him away.”

“That’s a good start.”

“Why are you even, like, why are we talking about this?”

“Because, Eiffel, he,” she pauses so unlike when she used to glitch. “I know he cared for me but he ran out of time before he actually said _anything._ He kept saying my name before… before he went.” She can’t make herself say that he died, not that Jacobi can blame her. “As for Doug, he told you exactly what he felt.”

“Okay and I panicked,” Jacobi explained, “I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to break anything anymore!”

He didn’t mean to yell but he’s just so tried and mad at himself for all the things he broke and the people he ruined.

“Then build something that can’t be broken,” she says as if it’s simply, “and if it does break, just learn from it and rebuild.”

“He’s good,” Jacobi can’t help but find more issues, “Doug and Eiffel are good and I. I don’t. I’m just not.”

“There are actually zero differences between good and bad things,” Hera quotes and he knows for sure that it’s not Hamlet because he and Doug read that tweet hours ago. “This is just a new start for all of us.”

They end the conversation there and finish up the patrol. The moment he steps inside, Doug is waiting for him, two mugs in hand and he smells chocolate instead of coffee.

“Thanks,” he said, letting his hands warm up around his mug. “No marshmallows?”

“Marsh-what-lo?”

“Oh we are so fixing that the moment we’re back in town!”

Doug chuckles, “I look forward to that.”

He looks at him, really stares at Doug like he’s done countless of times during this trip back to Earth. There’s tiredness and wariness in how Doug walks but there’s also curiosity and optimism in his eyes. Some things don’t change but it still feels different compared to the communications officer he first met.

“Doug,” he manages to say and those eyes are back on him, again with softness that actually does match him, “Do you want to go to dinner or something, like when we’re really done with Goddard and there isn’t a target on our backs.”

“That sounds pretty great,” he said and his tiny smile makes Jacobi feel like, yeah, they’re building something between them and it’ll turn out fine.

In the morning, Minkowski whacks the back of his head when she finds them sharing and maybe cuddling in Doug’s bed.

Worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
